Book 2 Chapter 32

Torvus led them through the dark and empty alleys until they reached a street with buildings packed so tightly together they hung over the road. He walked lightly humming in stark contrast to the hostile quiet radiating from those following him. They had followed him reluctantly, needing answers that it seemed only the strange young man could provide. He turned suddenly, entering a building as if he had chosen at random, and climbed the stairs to the 3rd floor.

“And here we are!” Torvus said proudly as he reached out to hold a door open. Confusion crossed the faces of his guests as he ushered them inside with a grin. Tirr entered the room with Maria and Nerida following as their guide went about lighting candles. As the young god reached the center of the room, he heard a soft squelch come from underfoot.

He looked down, just as Torvus lit another set of candles, bathing the room in an eerie light. Tirr found himself standing on a simple rug, the kind you might find in any normal household. Yet near its center where Tirr had just set foot was a deep and dark stain, tinted in a reddish black.

“Don’t worry about that!” Torvus called happily as he noticed they had stopped. “Didn’t have enough time to clean up everything earlier…”

“You…” Tirr started, his tone stiff. “Did you kill the people who lived here?”

“Had to or else they wouldn’t let me stay right? He asked still smiling as he waved towards a nearby table, “Come on! Have a seat I’m sure you have questions, right? Reminds me of the first time we met eh?”

When he turned and saw they hadn’t moved, and noticing Tirr’s clenched fist, his eye’s widened in realization, “Ah! The people here weren’t good people or anything. This was one of the Assassin’s Guild’s safe houses here in Lutel, more of the people who attacked you earlier…”

“Safehouses?” Nerida cut in, alarm showing on her face, “As in more than one?”

“Yeah, there’s a few…” He turned towards the kitchen area grabbing an apple and raising it towards them questioningly.

Tirr shook his head, taking a seat at the table. “Who are the Assassin’s Guild? And how do we find them?”

“Right to the questions, but probably better to start at the basics, right? Torvus put the apple down as he leaned against a counter. Still smiling as he faced them. “What do you know about the Merchant’s Confederation?”

Tirr turned to Maria, his face blank. He had barely had time to learn about Rasor and Lutel, let alone other countries that had risen since he had slept.

“Uh, it a country to the west right?” Maria stated hesitantly. Though she had heard stories from some of the merchants that had passed through Road’s End, she hadn’t paid much attention, thinking she would spend the rest of her life in the village.

“It’s hardly a country…” Nerida added, her eyes dark as she frowned at the assassin. “It’s one city and some farmland started by some merchants and craftsmen. They don’t produce enough food to feed themselves so they’re constantly importing and don’t control any natural resources for exports of their own beyond the work of their craftsmen. It doesn’t have an army, so it still exists mostly to the good graces of the countries near it.”

“Not really wrong but not really right either…” Torvus said meeting Nerida’s glare with a smile. “It was started by merchants and craftsmen a century or so ago. They placed themselves in the middle of the continent in order to be a central point for trade and commerce. They organized themselves into guilds based on their trades and crafts and voted in leaders from the biggest of those guilds to participate in the council that rules them.”

“They don’t have a King or Queen?” Maria asked.

“Nope, the council runs the city and government. Since they don’t control a lot of land, they do rely on imports, but they’ve grown wealthy off of trade due to their location and the skill of the craftsmen there. That one city probably controls more wealth than both Lutel and Rasor combined, especially after the years of war they’ve gone through.”

“I don’t see how any of what you said means I was wrong?” Nerida cut in, irritated at having been shown up in front of her god.

“Ah, well the part about countries letting them live. Even if they wanted to swallow that city, they might find it much harder than they thought. There’s a reason a city without any military of its own has lasted so long.”

“What does any of this have to do with the attack and kidnapping?” Tirr asked, not seeing where this conversation was going.

“I was getting to that.” Torvus said patiently grabbing the apple again. “The main reasons that the Merchant’s Confederation has lasted as long as it has is the Assassin’s Guild and the Information Guild. They started them by buying orphans from other countries and training them from a young age, making them into the perfect tools”

Torvus bit into the apple again chewing with a happy expression that once more left his eyes empty. “It's impossible to find out anything about them normally. Only the council knows about them and they do a good job of cleaning up any leaks. They act as the Confederation’s arms and eyes keeping watch for any dangers and ending them before they can become a threat.”

“They’re still a small group, right?” Maria asked, “How would they stop an army?”

“By making sure that army was too busy to do anything… If you’re a small and weak person surrounded by people stronger then you. How do you protect yourself while keeping your independence? For the mostly friendly ones or the ones that aren’t so scary, you could just show how you’re useful, that it’s better to keep you around then to take you out… “

Torvus smiled again looking directly at Tirr as he spoke. “But for the scarier guys, well, they won’t have time to look at you if they’re too busy dealing with each other, right?”

Tirr’s eyes widened as he whispered, “Rasor and Lutel?”

Torvus answered with a grin, taking another large bite as he watched them…